As promised in last week's blog post regarding the run up to the European Election, which can be found here, I am going to do a post that explains the different electoral systems. Electoral systems are split into three main categories: proportional representation, majoritarian systems and mixed systems which are a hybrid of the first two systems. Within those categories there are numerous electoral systems. The reason there are so many electoral systems across the world is a result of the different social constructions which require electoral systems that represent communities correctly.
The first type of electoral systems are the majoritarian systems because the United Kingdom uses one of the most prominent ones for its general elections. Majoritarian systems are designed to form a majority in parliament for the governing party and are often seen as a winner takes all system. These electoral systems favour a two party system. The electoral systems that fall under this category are Alternative Vote, Block Vote, Borda Count, First Past the Post (used by the UK), Limited Vote, Supplementary Vote and Two-Round System. They work on the premise that either the person with the most votes wins the seat or a 50 per cent threshold has to be met by a form of preferential voting that takes into account multiple choices when candidates are eliminated from the count. These electoral systems are criticised for hindering the rise of new parties into parliaments.
The second type is proportional representation, which as the name suggests represents the electorate proportionally in relation to the votes cast for each party. These types of electoral systems are designed to allow minority groups gain significant representation in a parliament and are often used in peace negotiations after civil unrest. The main forms of these are Party List (which can be open or closed) and Single Transferable Vote, which use a ranking system for either candidates or parties over a multi-member constituency. The obvious advantage to this is parliaments are more representation but the main downside is that constituency representation is greatly reduced as there are numerous members of parliament saying they represent a particular geographic area but may have opposing political ideologies. The European Electoral election in the UK will be voted on using the closed Party List system which is purely for a party rather than a specific candidate. These votes are then counted and the number of candidates from each party is allocated by their party's vote share from a prioritised list, of course this has the disadvantage that voters do not know the exact candidate they are voting for.
The final systems are mixed systems which are very much a mix of a majoritarian and proportional representation electoral system with two votes cast, one for a constituency and another for a larger region to give representation at a constituency level like a majoritarian system does but yet gives a more proportional result by using top-up seats. The two main systems for mixed systems are Additional Member System (used in the devolved elections around the UK) and Alternative Vote Plus. The main drawback for mixed systems are that voting papers are more complex as they require two different votes on one page and can be accidentally voided. They do however, give a more proportional result in parliament whilst retaining a constituency link.
I hope this post has helped to explain electoral systems in a brief way. For a more individual explanation this website gives a pretty good overview.
The first type of electoral systems are the majoritarian systems because the United Kingdom uses one of the most prominent ones for its general elections. Majoritarian systems are designed to form a majority in parliament for the governing party and are often seen as a winner takes all system. These electoral systems favour a two party system. The electoral systems that fall under this category are Alternative Vote, Block Vote, Borda Count, First Past the Post (used by the UK), Limited Vote, Supplementary Vote and Two-Round System. They work on the premise that either the person with the most votes wins the seat or a 50 per cent threshold has to be met by a form of preferential voting that takes into account multiple choices when candidates are eliminated from the count. These electoral systems are criticised for hindering the rise of new parties into parliaments.
The second type is proportional representation, which as the name suggests represents the electorate proportionally in relation to the votes cast for each party. These types of electoral systems are designed to allow minority groups gain significant representation in a parliament and are often used in peace negotiations after civil unrest. The main forms of these are Party List (which can be open or closed) and Single Transferable Vote, which use a ranking system for either candidates or parties over a multi-member constituency. The obvious advantage to this is parliaments are more representation but the main downside is that constituency representation is greatly reduced as there are numerous members of parliament saying they represent a particular geographic area but may have opposing political ideologies. The European Electoral election in the UK will be voted on using the closed Party List system which is purely for a party rather than a specific candidate. These votes are then counted and the number of candidates from each party is allocated by their party's vote share from a prioritised list, of course this has the disadvantage that voters do not know the exact candidate they are voting for.
The final systems are mixed systems which are very much a mix of a majoritarian and proportional representation electoral system with two votes cast, one for a constituency and another for a larger region to give representation at a constituency level like a majoritarian system does but yet gives a more proportional result by using top-up seats. The two main systems for mixed systems are Additional Member System (used in the devolved elections around the UK) and Alternative Vote Plus. The main drawback for mixed systems are that voting papers are more complex as they require two different votes on one page and can be accidentally voided. They do however, give a more proportional result in parliament whilst retaining a constituency link.
I hope this post has helped to explain electoral systems in a brief way. For a more individual explanation this website gives a pretty good overview.
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